Sunday, March 20, 2011 am
You of Little Faith
On many
different occasions we have emphasized the importance of faith in the
life of a Christian. We have
defined faith as one who trusts in God and believes Him (not merely
believing IN Him).
You cannot become a Christian without
faith – Mark 16:16, Rom. 10:9-10, John 8:24.
Nor can you be
faithful to God without it.
Hebrews 11:6 tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God.
2 Peter 1:5 finds faith at the foundation upon which we build our
character. 1 John 5:4 tells
us that we overcome the world with our faith. Over and over, a proper
faith is emphasized.
But faith is often
described in negative terms.
There is dead faith – James 2:17, overthrown faith – 2 Tim. 2:18,
shipwrecked faith – 1 Tim. 1:19, faith without works – Jas. 2, denial of
faith – 1 Tim. 5:8, wandering from the faith - 1 Tim. 6:10, etc.
There is another
type of faith that falls into the category of that which is unacceptable
– “little faith”. We have
recorded at least 4 occasions in which Jesus said to His disciples, “O
You of little faith”. In our
lesson this morning we want to examine these passages and note the
characteristics that can cause us to have little faith.
a.
Jesus in
the Sermon on the Mount was emphasizing the importance of trusting in
God. His call was for us to not
worry about the things of this life.
Jesus pointed out that God knows what we need and He can provide
for us what we need. The
question is do we trust Him enough to believe that!
b.
What is
the Bible says about worry is something we need to remind ourselves
about often.
i.
Phil.
4:6-7 says to be anxious for nothing, but with prayer let God guard your
heart
ii.
Prov.
12:25, “Anxiety in the heart of
man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad.”
iii.
Matt. 6:27
– you cannot add anything to your stature by worrying.
c.
What is
the real source of why we worry?
Often it is a failure to be content with what we have.
1 Tim. 6:6-8 – calls for us to be content and notes that such is great
gain.
For far too many, the greatest source of worry is concern for material
things.
We have put too much trust in the things of this world.
We love God more than mammon – Matthew 6:24.
Our treasures are on this earth where moth and rust can destroy –
Matt. 6:19-20.
d.
Jesus in
our text in vs. 30 noted that the one who worries is of little faith.
When you obsess about the things of this life, you are showing a
lack of trust in God to provide for you what you need.
That ought to be reason enough to overcome worry.
NOTE: In this, let us not forget that often we DON’T need as much as we
think we do.
a.
Jesus has
been doing great works in Capernaum.
He enters a boat with His disciples to go to the other side.
During the trip across the sea there arose a great tempest that
caused His disciples to fear for their lives.
But Jesus was below sleeping.
As waters filled the boat and the windstorm was great, His
disciples awoke Him and pleaded with Him to save them.
Mark’s account finds them saying, “Don’t you care that we are
perishing?” (Mk. 4:38).
Jesus awakes and says to His disciples, “Why are you fearful, O you of
little faith?” He then
rebukes the wind saying, “Peace, be still!”
They are amazed at the miracle because even the winds obeyed His
word.
b.
Godly fear
is good!
Fear is a natural emotion.
It is good and God given.
Fear can keep us on the right path.
Philippians 2:12 tells us to work out our own salvation with fear
and trembling. This is a
HEALTHY fear which can move us to obedience (with trembling).
Fear can keep us from rejecting God – Matt. 10:28, Do not fear those who
kill the body but cannot kill the soul,…
c.
But at
times fear turns to cowardice or a failure to trust God to protect us.
Sometimes the consequences of an action will keep us from doing
or saying the right thing.
God is NOT pleased with the cowardly – Rev. 21:8.
Matthew 25:24-28, if the one talent man told the truth on this occasion,
he was afraid of failure which led him to do nothing.
He was outright condemned.
John 12:42-43 described a group of believers in Jesus, “even among the
rulers”, who because of cowardly fear, would not confess Him.
Jesus said of such that He would deny them – Matt. 10:32-33
d.
The key to
dealing with fear is to face it!
As Christians our faith MUST carry us into circumstances, even when we
are afraid to go there. We
should NOT be afraid of the unknown to the point that we do nothing.
Christians must remember passages like Rom. 8:31-39 – if God is for us,
who can be against us &
John 10:27-29 where Jesus speaking of His sheep noted that they heard
and followed Him and He protects them.
e.
If you are
afraid and it keeps you from doing what need to be done, then like those
disciples in that boat, you are of little faith.
a.
We have
another occasion on the same body of water.
This time Jesus sends His disciples away before evening to cross
the waters to the other side.
Jesus went to a mountain to pray.
At evening we read that there were contrary winds tossing the
boat about. Jesus, “in the
fourth watch of the night” (about 9 hours after sunset which would place
this somewhere between 3 & 6 AM) went to them walking on the water.
When they first saw Him they thought it was a ghost and were
greatly afraid. Jesus
assured and comforted them saying “Be of good cheer!
It is I; do not be afraid.”
Peter then asked Jesus, “If it is You, let me come to You.”
Jesus told him to come on.
Peter got out of the boat and began walking on water, until he
looked down and then he began to sink.
He cried out, “Lord, save me!”
Jesus stretched out His hand and caught Him and rebuked him
saying, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
b.
As we have
noted, the very definition of faith involves trusting God.
Doubt is the antithesis of faith.
To whatever degree one doubts, his faith is that weak.
c.
Christians
ought not live a life of doubt!
Note again Hebrews 11:6 – he who comes to God MUST believe that He is!
In James 1:5-8 we are warned that in our prayers we must have faith.
IF we doubt, God will NOT give us what we ask (according to His
will) and is NOT pleased. 1
Tim. 2:8 says something similar.
Hebrews 10:23 says, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without
wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”
d.
There may
be times when we question something, but such ought NOT hinder us from
obedience to His will. I think
of two things:
i.
When doubt
is the result of ignorance, we don’t have an excuse (for long).
One of the best ways to overcome doubt is knowledge.
That is why we continually study His word – Eph. 5:17 – seeking
to understand His will!
Earlier in that letter, Paul challenged us to grow so that we would not
be “tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine…”
(Eph. 4:12-16)
ii.
Even when
do not understand God’s instructions, we must STILL obey them, “doubting
nothing”, just like Peter was told to go with men to the household of
Cornelius. (Acts 10:20)
Friends, one of the best ways to overcome doubt is to act in faith.
As God helps you and you overcome, your reasons to doubt will be
reduced.
e.
To
whatever degree one doubts, He does not have confidence in God!
If you doubt, you are of little faith.
IV.
Matthew 16:5-12 – when we lack spiritual direction
a.
Jesus had
just ended a confrontation with the Jewish leaders.
His disciples had crossed over the sea of Galilee again and had
forgotten to take bread with them.
Jesus warned them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the
Pharisees and the Sadducees.”
We are told that the disciple reasoned Jesus said this because
they forgot their bread.
Jesus responded, “O you of little faith.”
He proceeds to remind them that He had miraculously feed large
crowds TWICE, so it was not a matter of His not being able to take care
of them (see point 1 about worry).
It was the direction of their thinking that was their problem.
They were still thinking in materialistic and worldly terms.
b.
I ask each
of us to examine ourselves and determine where our mindset really is.
As we study the New Testament it becomes clear that our first
thoughts ought to be on spiritual matters.
Rom. 12:1-2 speaks of renewed minds that no longer conform to worldly
thinking.
Colossians 3:1-2 challenges us to seek those things which are above and
then to set our mind on those things.
Matt. 6:19-20 - Jesus taught us (again) to lay up for ourselves treasure
in heaven for, “where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.”
Philippians 4:8 challenges us to meditate on things true, noble, just,
pure, etc. rather than the things of this earth.
Phil. 3:20-21 describes our citizenship as being in heaven
Rom. 8:6 speaks of being spiritually minded which leads to life and
peace, as opposed to being carnally minded which leads to death.
We can go on and on with such passages.
They are the foundation of the Christian life.
c.
The
problem the disciples had which caused Him to rebuke them on that
occasion was their continued worldly mindset.
It was a hindrance to their comprehending the nature of the
Kingdom Jesus came to establish and His work.
They never did fully “get it” until after He died, arose and
ascended back to heaven.
d.
Friends,
if we love the things of this world more than God and His will (1 John
2:15-17), then our faith will NOT be as strong as it ought to be.
If our first reaction is always physical then, as Jesus described
His disciples, we are of little faith!
We need to be focusing on spiritual matters – spending time with
our brethren and doing the Lord’s work.
We need to devote time to prayer, study and meditation of His
word. WE need to seek to
worship God as often as we can.
We need to be careful not to crowd our lives with so many things
that we don’t have adequate time to “grow in the grace and knowledge of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Pet. 3:18).
The truth is, YOU KNOW whether or not you are as “spiritual” as
you ought to be! You CANNOT
separate that from your faith!
And thus we can see our Lord’s concern for those “of little faith.” We can also see the causes are very much alive and active today. May we strive to overcome such attitudes and seek to have a GREAT faith that cannot be moved. Where is YOUR faith?